Tony Stewart entangled in cyberspace rage after driver's death

Tony Stewart is a murderer and should be in prison. Tony Stewart is a good man and just an innocent bystander in a tragic tale of racing chaos.

Please stop. My head hurts.

Communication in the cyberspace age requires no entrance exam, logic or basic grammar skills. All you need is a computer and a cyberstage name like "IHateAllPeople23."

It seems everyone has blossomed into a racing and legal expert after Saturday night's tragedy on a dirt track in New York, where Kevin Ward Jr. was clipped by Stewart's car and died shortly thereafter.

Emotions have gotten in the way of due process, civility and common sense.

There's an angry mob screaming on one side of the fence that Stewart let his ornery disposition get the best of him and hit Ward purposely.

There's another angry mob on the other side defiantly defending Stewart, pointing to a dark amateur video clip that shows Ward getting out of his car and getting in harm's way after he was taken out of the race by Stewart on the previous lap.

Stewart has been deemed a racing terrorist and should immediately be deported to Gitmo, if you listen to some of the noise out there.

Jay Mariotti, a former Chicago-based columnist, opined in an article: "Known throughout his controversial career as a volatile, reckless bully who lets nothing interfere with his thirst for winning or desire for attention, Stewart will have difficulty defending himself in a criminal investigation.''

"Throw the book at Tony," the headline screams.

Let the banter continue: It's a culture of road rage! Congress should intervene in NASCAR's business! (But this wasn't a NASCAR sanctioned-race!) Stewart should be parked immediately by NASCAR! The kid got what was coming to him!

How about we all put our weapons of mass destruction down and agree on something?

This is a horrible tragedy. Veteran NASCAR writer Monte Dutton said it better than anyone in two words:

"Nobody wins."

Kevin Ward's family mourns the loss of a 20-year-old kid chasing his passion for racing. Stewart is grieving, too, big-time. It remains unclear whether he will race this weekend in Michigan. If people like Mariotti are going to make the ridiculous connection that the accident was intentional by profiling Stewart, then let's establish the compelling evidence that goes the other way:

Stewart, ornery disposition and all, has a huge heart.

Example: Shortly after finishing 41st in the Daytona 500 in 2013, Stewart went to a Daytona Beach hospital to visit fans injured during a Nationwide Series race the previous day. A horrific crash on the last lap scattered debris into the stands, injuring a more than a dozen fans.

That doesn't make Stewart Mother Teresa. But Saturday's incident doesn't make Stewart Jack the Ripper, either.

"Not everybody has all the facts," Brad Keselowski said during a conference call Tuesday.

But why deal in facts when you can just lob firebombs into the air, regardless of the collateral damage?

AJ Allmendinger is the wild card in the 16-driver field that will be set after only four more races. He is essentially assured of a spot in the 10-race playoff, even though by his acknowledgement, he knows he only has a puncher's chance of winning this thing.

"I mean, we've got a shot," Allmendinger said after winning at Watkins Glen this past weekend. "I want to go in there and make some noise."

Likely more of a quiet whisper. As a road-race specialist, Allmendinger is David in the face of Goliaths. He is a one-man show for JTG Daugherty Racing, a team co-owned by TadGeschickter and former NBA star Brad Daugherty.

He's also overcome some personal adversity, most notably a suspension for failing a drug test hours before a Sprint Cup race at Daytona in the summer of 2012. After losing his ride with Penske Racing, Allmendinger drove for two different teams last year before landing a full-time slot this season.

"Seeing anyone get their first one is incredibly special. You only get one of those, right?" said BradKeselowski, the 2012 Cup champion. "But to go with some of the adversity AJ's had to fight through to get there I think makes it even more special. He's a guy who entered the garage in 2007 with really a hand tied behind his back, maybe two, and he's clawed his way to where he's at now to be able to get that first win. That's something I think anyone can respect, and certainly I do as well."

The big downside for some regulars is that somebody — perhaps Greg Biffle or Kasey Kahne — is going to get squeezed out of a spot in the Chase. But such are the dynamics of the new NASCAR business model that puts an emphasis on winning.